1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a separable fastener comprising a hook fastener member having hook fastening elements and a loop fastener member having loop fastening elements, and more particularly, to a separable fastener in which the damage to loop fastening elements to be engaged with the hook fastening element is minimized by a hook fastener member provided with specific hook fastening elements projecting from the base thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Separable fasteners in which hook fastening elements (hereinafter may be referred to simply as xe2x80x9chooksxe2x80x9d) and loop fastening elements (hereinafter may be referred to simply as xe2x80x9cloopsxe2x80x9d) are engaged with each other to form fastening have been utilized in various applications. The separable fasteners have been developed as alternative means for other fastening means such as hook-and-eye and string-binding, and recently, separable fasteners having a strong engaging force have been developed and practically used.
However, with the recent spread of applications of the separable fasteners, there is an increasing demand for a hook fastener member causing little damage to cooperating loops in addition to their high engaging force. In clothing applications of the separable fasteners, particularly in the application to thin clothing or clothing for wearing close to the skin of a user, a cooperating loop fastener member needs to be thin and flexible. Thus, the hook fastener members used in these applications are required to cause little damage to loops. In some applications of the separable fasteners, a non-woven fabric capable of engaging with the hook fastener member has come to be used as an alternative for the loop fastener members. In such applications, the hook fastener members are also required to cause little damage to the engaging surface of the non-woven fabric. To meet the above demands, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-52521 discloses an flexible hook fastener member with little damage to loops.
As a result of studies on the flexible hook fastener member of Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 6-52521, the inventors have recognized that the conventional hook fastener members must be further improved in preventing loop damage since they still caused a considerable damage to loops.
Thus, the present invention provides a hook fastener member with little damage to cooperating loop fastening elements, having hook fastening elements in a hook density of 80 to 200 per cm2, the hook fastening elements being formed from hook-forming loops made of a monofilament having a fineness of 100 to 200 deniers, and the monofilament and ground warps which are adjacent to the monofilament being placed in a reverse phase (position) with respect to a ground weft by weaving. The hook fastening elements are preferably arranged in the lengthwise direction so as to satisfy the following relationship:
a:b=1:0.58 to 1:1.75
wherein xe2x80x9caxe2x80x9d is an inter-top distance of a pair of facing hooks and xe2x80x9cbxe2x80x9d is an inter-top distance of a pair of back-to-back facing hooks adjacent to the facing hooks.
The present invention also provides a separable fastener comprising a hook fastener member as mentioned above and a cooperating loop fastener member made of a knitted or woven fabric having a plurality of projecting loop fastening elements made of a multifilament having a single fiber fineness of 2 to 20 deniers in a loop density of 50 to 500 per cm2.
The present invention also provides a separable fastener comprising a hook fastener member as mentioned above and a cooperating loop fastener member made of a raised non-woven fabric made of fibers having a single fiber fineness of 1 to 20 deniers and having a plurality of projecting loop fastening elements or having a plurality of raised fibers on the surface thereof.